Thursday, November 19, 2009

Going Green Seeing Red

My apartment was designed around energy efficiency. I'll admit that this wasn't why I rented it. I rented it because it was super pretty. I don't hate mother earth or anything, I was all for it at first. I have come to realize that "energy efficient" means "absolutely no sunlight". It was ok though because then I could blame the houseplant dying on the lack of sunlight. It was an alibi.

My biggest grip have been the light bulbs. At first I liked the idea that I wasn't supposed to buy new light bulbs or change the light bulbs. I can handle that. The problem is that these light bulbs don't give off actual light. They are like hybrids of compact florescent so is like one compact bulb inside another light bulb. If I actually want to see in a room I have to turn the lights on fifteen minutes in advance. It starts out as acting as a night light and then eventually gets brighter. It takes about 45 minutes to reach maximum brightness where I can distinguish the color of items. This is not energy efficient because the lights are on longer. Once I recharge the batteries in my camera I will take a series of time lapse shots to show just how ridiculous it is.

3 comments:

Stacy said...

So you have to turn on the lights when you leave for work to have the lights on when you get home? Sounds very energy-efficient to me. ;)

LEstes65 said...

I have some of those. It's annoying when you want to just pop into the bathroom, check yourself in the mirror and run out. You have to stand there as you slowly appear in the mirror. Over all, it doesn't bug me, though. I don't have every room equipped with these saver bulbs. So I'm always happy when I flip the switch in one of the earth-killing rooms and can see instantly.

Barrie said...

We have some of those lightbulbs in a bathroom, of all places. Do not plan to put your makeup on for a while if you're using that particular powder room!